A/N : Thanks to all who reviewed, hopefully you will enjoy the rest…(And yes, Legolas is in here)

~ Chapter 2.  Revelation ~

A feeling of calm serenity swept over me. The daily stress of my life forgotten, I made a mental note to remember this sensation every time my outside life became too much to handle.

'Mel…'

I turned to find Tamara and a tall dark-haired woman standing beside her. She had the same glow about her that I noticed on Tamara. I had not heard her coming in. She held a sheer light blue caftan-like dress draped over her arms, much like the one Tamara was wearing. She smiled and said something in an unknown language, which I assumed to be elvish. Then she laid the dress on the bed and slipped out of the room.

'I didn't understand a word she said' I told Tamara. 'You'd think, logically, they should have a translation program in the software.'

'They do,' Tamara replied and her eyes suddenly clouded, 'but there's been a malfunction in the program. One of many, actually' Her voice had dropped and I could tell there was more to this than she was telling. 'They're trying to fix it and by the time we get to meet everyone, we should be able to communicate.'

'Are we going to meet the elves?' I couldn't believe my own excitement. Here I was in a completely new world, wanting to taste every aspect of this forbidden existence. I was not a lawyer but a kid in a candy store. And I wanted everything.

'Yes' Tamara replied 'Galadriel, Celeborn for starters, then some of the other characters. But let me not spoil it for you. Wait and see.' She added and I knew she was not going to tell me more.

'How long are we going to be here?' I asked, suddenly reminded that somewhere out there life was carrying on as normal.

Tamara looked straight at me and I saw that her face had gone ashen. She did not say a word.

'What's the matter, Tamara?'

She grasped my hands in hers. I felt she was trying to tell me something, but we needed time for it. Clearly there was no time for it now.

'We have to join the elves. We cannot keep them waiting. Get dressed.'

'I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong.' I knew I sounded like a stubborn child, but I needed to know what was disturbing Tamara so.

'Mel', she said in an exasperated tone, 'since you are here, why not enjoy it? There's nothing we can do about it now. And there's plenty of time to argue later.' Her eyes pleaded for me to let it go.

'All right' I agreed. I trusted Tamara and after all, we were here to have fun 'Let's go meet the elves.'

As I dressed I wished for a mirror but there wasn't one in the room and Tamara said I looked presentable enough to meet the high elves.

I felt tingly with excitement, like a schoolgirl about to meet her favourite boy-band.

'You'll tell me what's really going on afterwards, okay?'

Tamara nodded, apprehension still marking her soft features.

We exited the room to find the tall elf-woman waiting for us outside.

'Follow me' she said in her language. This time I understood her. It hadn't taken them long to fix the bug, I thought as I smiled back at her and beckoned her to lead us. I was still shy to speak.

We had been housed on an elevated platform that seemed to thin to the touch of my bare feet that I was reluctant to walk. It was like being on ice without the chill. I saw our elven companion gliding across the surface and I thought, foolishly, she's a little taller than me, must also weigh more, the surface will not break… We followed.

We walked down a winding stairway made of the same material as the platform. The staircase encircled the giant trunk of what had to be an ancient tree. Impossibly high too, since I counted thirty full circles till we finally stepped on solid ground. By that time I was feeling so dizzy that Tamara had to offer her arm to steady me.

'Take it easy' she whispered. 'You just got out of bed.'

The next few hours will always stay with me as one the most peaceful and soothing experiences I ever had. I cannot say whether it was the food, which I found surprisingly tasty, or the conversation, which I could now fully comprehend and participate in.

Maybe it was the stories we heard, or the songs. Maybe it was the feeling of belonging, the unreserved tranquility that these beings seemed so infused with. I could remember experiencing no such feeling in real life. This alternate universe that relaxed and calmed an overworked and overstressed mind would easily become an addiction for the world in the years to come.

We sat next to Galadriel and Celeborn as the food was served. I tried not to stare but I caught Tamara herself gaping a few times. I agreed, so this was more her fantasy than my own, but she had not been mistaken when choosing this place as a gift for me.

I had to constantly remind myself that this was a game and it would not matter if we turned out to be two rude humans after all. Yet while we were here I felt we had to respect the harmony of the beings that had been created for our own pleasure. Foolishly, I reflected: this place did not exist. Or so I thought…

Galadriel and Celeborn looked surprisingly like real people, but for the pointy ears and the strange bluish light that seemed to glow deep inside them. Galadriel was a rare beauty yet there was an edge to her splendor, sadness and wisdom, especially in her intense blue eyes. They bore lights in their depths as if they had seen ages upon ages of this world. She did not seem a computer creation at all.

We heard tales of their ancestors and children, of their origins and history. It was all like a Middle-Earth history lesson. I vaguely recalled reading about them in my teenage years, which seemed millennia ago, but I had understandably forgotten most of it.

'My guests are weary now' she said with a smile that revealed small, even white teeth. She could obviously see what I was trying to conceal for fear of appearing rude.

'In the morning we shall meet the others. They are expected to arrive during the night.'

 wondered who the others were but fatigue was overcoming me fast. I longed to fall asleep thinking about this gathering of beautiful creatures. Yet my bones did not ache nor did any part of my body feel the effect of the food allergy. Neither Tamara nor myself were aware of how long we spent in the company of the elves but when we rose to leave, the sky was dark, clear and scattered with stars, the night air crisp and cool. I dreaded climbing all the way up to my high-perched bedroom, but my feet led me there painlessly and quicker than I thought.

'Where is your room?' I asked Tamara as we reached the platform 'You're not sleeping in that chair next to my bed, I assume.' I joked, my mood mellow and relaxed.

'No, of course' she replied. Then she turned towards me. Her features bore the same troubled look she had before the dinner.

She had urged me to enjoy the dinner and promised we would talk later and I had forgotten all about it.

'You can't go to bed yet. I'm sorry, Mel. We need to talk'

A sense of unease formed in the pit of my stomach 

She sat me down on the bed, against my protests, before she began to tell me. As she progressed, my mind started to darken and although I was staring at her, I could only hear fragments of what she was saying. I saw her face and how anguish swept over her features gradually making it look like a mask of anguish, how tears came eventually and started rolling down her cheeks. Her lips moved but I only heard echoes of her words in my head. I heard it over and over…my sentence… my doom…

'The VR projection is started by a pill that I slipped into your drink at the restaurant. Somehow this pill must have triggered an allergy, a reaction. We never knew you were allergic to the fish, you were right, you'd had it many times before…but something went wrong …the allergy… it interfered with the program… your body and mind can only be sustained in this world…if you go back, you are in a coma in hospital…you are trapped here,… we don't know for how long, …... Trapped! Trapped!'

Tamara never left me that night.

Waves of panic mingled with rage and terror swept over me. It was denial… this cannot be happening to me… then hysteria… this is a joke, you are dreaming, wake up! Wake Up!!!!

I felt violated and crushed. Something had happened that had swept me away from my life, my business and my world and I refused to accept the unfairness of it all. It was like being told that I had an incurable disease with only a short while to live. Wait! I just had been told that I could die at any moment, just like that, without any preparation… I had read somewhere that people diagnosed with fatal diseases went through a phase of denial first before accepting their fate. Only I wasn't about to accept this abomination. 

Throughout that awful night, I would often think, this is not me, I can't be here… This is a sinister joke stretched too far…

Then Tamara would try to talk some sense into me, to' let me know how this projection worked. At first I refused to listed, lashing out at her countless times

'How could you do this to me? You ruined my life. I hate you!'

Tamara took all the abuse I hurled at her stoically and with infinite tolerance.

She kept whispering 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!' but I was deaf to her pleas for forgiveness.

At some point, I remember even begging her to end it all.

'Please, get me out. Tell whoever is running this game or whatever it is to get me out. I don't care if I die, just please, please get me out….'

I'm certain that I said other unspeakable things to her in my rage and despair, but to some extent I am grateful that I cannot remember, or my guilt would be tenfold.

Then a thought occurred to me, then another and another and I started asking questions. Tamara did not by any means have all the answers but I learned a little about my 'condition'.

'You are functioning perfectly in this world, but for how long, we don't know. Whatever is happening and will happen in future is not a preset scenario. This projection is based on what your brainwaves are creating, whether consciously or not, so obviously your brain is very active at some level. But mainly it is based on your interaction with the other characters in the game. Their personality traits are recorded in the software code, their reactions, however, are not. They belong entirely to themselves. This is as real as it will ever get.'

'What happens if I die in here?'

'You die in the real world. And viceversa.'

'So if my brain decides that its had enough fun in Middle Earth, it can just shut down and I drop dead?'

Tamara averted her eyes but nodded her head, just barely. She did not spare my feelings. No matter how painful it might be, I needed to know exactly how much trouble I was in.

'Yes' she replied levelly ' And it can happen anytime. But you are stable in our world. All your vitals are normal. It's just that…' she would not say it but I knew.

Then I looked at her, my only link with the outside world, and a fresh wave of panic engulfed me.

'And you, Tame? Are you real?' I knew what I wanted to hear, but I had heard nothing of the sort in the past few hours.

'Yes, I'm real. I asked Jerry to insert me into the game, to guide you and to see you through this tough time, until you somewhat accept what is happening to you' She said but when I saw fresh tears flooding her sad, blue eyes I knew there was more to it than that.

My heart sank.

'You have to go back.' I said, the calmest that I'd been in a long time.

'Yes. And once I'm out, I cannot be re-inserted in the game. Another glitch…'

I opened my mouth to say something, but thought better of it. I looked Tamara in the eye and tried my hardest to sound detached and composed.

'Life carries on, Tame. I would expect you to do no less.' My voice was broken when I added  'Just take care of the business.' And I immediately regretted saying it because I saw the reaction on Tamara's face.

She could no longer hold back, she broke down and I could not help it but let my own tears flow freely. They had been coming a long time and I didn't know if they would bring any release. But as I held Tamara and tried to say some idiotic words of forgiveness and encouragement, feeling the extent of her guilt, bitterness slowly dissolved into sorrow and empathy for my trusted friend.

'But I did this to you, Mel.' She sobbed ' I should never be allowed to go back. Never. Never.'

I had no reply to that. Yet strangely enough I felt no resentment or anger at her any longer. This was some awful twist of fate and while I was far from accepting what was happening to me, I was beginning to understand that even this world, as far-fetched and surreal as it might be, would be a better choice compared to lying in a coma, in the dark while the conscious mind was awake yet not capable of forcing the body and the brain to wake up and resume normal life.

After a long while when we just cried in each other's arms I thought it best to break the moment before I started feeling any sorrier for myself, and dragged Tamara further down with me in the pits of despair.

'I need a cigarette'

Tamara smiled through her tears. She saw right through me, as always.

'You quit'

'Yeah? Well, what does it matter now?'

'Anyway, you're in Middle Earth now and the next best thing would be one of their pipes. But' she added and I could see that she was teasing and trying to lift my spirit 'ladies don't smoke.'

'To hell with that, I'm no lady.' I said as I almost smiled. But my heart was thumping in my chest, I felt nauseous, helpless and miserable.

In this exquisite world populated by ethereal, seraphic beings, I was utterly alone.

~~

A/N : If this is taking a while getting off the ground, sorry. But hang around, there will be many more twists and turns!!